In addition to increased seafood consumption and tourism,
recent studies link global climate change with an apparent
increasing incidence of the Marine Seafood Toxin diseases.
However, the epidemiology of the human diseases caused by
the harmful marine phytoplankton is still in its infancy. In
general, the epidemiology of these diseases has consisted of
case reports of acute illness, sometimes as epidemic outbreaks,
associated with the ingestion of suspicious seafood.
Furthermore, even these outbreaks are highly under-reported,
especially in poorer countries and in traditionally non-endemic
areas. True incidence data are not available due to the lack of
disease and exposure biomarkers in humans, as well as the
global lack of routine exposure and disease surveillance.
Without true incidence data to establish background
population rates, it is impossible to evaluate the impact of
Global Change or the apparent increasing incidence